Modern III (Dilley)
This class focuses on developing a strong and intelligent technical base that applies to any kind of dance, regardless of style. With a new discovery each day, the movement vocabulary encourages personal understanding, agility, physical organization and commitment to movement choices with the audacity of conviction. It explores a range of expressive qualities as well as conscious acknowledgement of physical and spatial relationships. Above all else, this class will move in and out of the floor, upside down, right side up, with partners and without. (Dilley)
Modern IV (Hauser)
This class invites a poetic approach to serious dance training. The class is structured as a technique workshop focusing on coordination and spatial clarity. Throughout the three weeks we will take time to breakdown new and familiar movement ideas and pathways. By going deeply into movement material, we will expand our physical and expressive range. We will practice floor work, inverted work and improvisation throughout each class to activate three dimensional and imaginative dancing.
Modern: Motion Techniques IV & V (Hermesdorf & Mathias)
These classes have a vigorous and detailed focus on the act of motion from the inside out, engaging sensation, articulation, efficient power and full-bodied investigation. A warm-up of breath and energetic work, improvisation, technical experimentation and methods of physics, floor, air and inversion leads to extended phrase work exploring three-dimensional choreography. Collaborating with live, visceral music, the class progresses from tuning the internal impulse to expressing the external response, offering a supportive and dynamic training ground for deeply integrated dancing.
Modern IV & V (Foley)
These classes provide professional dancers with the physical, technical and kinesthetic tools to further enhance their ability to stay focused and healthy in the dance world. A combination of core-strengthening exercises along with complex physical phrase work augments the training of the intermediate and advanced dancer. Through the use of release-based techniques and more traditional concepts of breath and movement, students develop a clearer understanding of how working with the body on a skeletal and muscular level facilitates locomotor movement while enhancing individual creative expression. Dancers are challenged to discover new possibilities in their dancing through the use of inversions, floor-work, center adagio and Foley’s eclectic repertory.
Modern V (Battle)
This class is crafted to give dancers a well-rounded knowledge of modern dance. It incorporates the principles and techniques of classical modern choreographers such as José Limon, Martha Graham, Paul Taylor, Lar Lubovitch and David Parsons, not only for a thorough warm-up, but also to connect the dots of our modern dance history as it relates to movement. The class culminates in phrases of Battle’s own work that expound upon the classical techniques that inspire him.
Ballet III (List)
The focus in this class is on correct alignment, ease of movement and dancing fully with musicality. Rhythm, momentum and spatial clarity are emphasized. Explanations of exercises and theory help students to use the ballet vocabulary in a simple, practical way, practicing skills that may be applied to other dance techniques. Exercises at the barre prepare for more complicated rhythms and combinations in the center. Areas of unnecessary tension are identified so that dancers may let go of excess effort and increase technical skills as well as expressivity.
Ballet IV (Ganteaume)
This intermediate class will focus on technique and alignment, while paying particular attention to fluid movement of the body, arms and feet. Mastering simplicity of movement at the barre will attune preparation for more complex technique in the center. Adage will support continuity for ease of movement, correct alignment and fluidity, as petite and grand allegro will be used for lightness, smoothness and ballon. Grace in harmony with technique form the pillars of this class.
Ballet V (List)
This advanced class is designed for dancers who have a thorough understanding of ballet technique. We move fairly quickly through barre exercises (focusing on placement, ease of movement and rhythm) in order to spend more time honing skills in the center. Musicality, momentum and use of the upper body are emphasized and refined. Advanced work such as jumps with beats and consecutive turns are explored and practiced. By developing core strength and releasing excess tension, we are able to make technically challenging work appear more fluid and effortless.
Jazz IV (Young)
This class celebrates jazz dance as a dynamic, expressive, complex and continuously evolving form. Because jazz dance is inspired by vernacular dance and music, the class explores movement that has its roots in African-American dances such as the Cakewalk, the Charleston, the Lindy Hop and Hip Hop as well as the Mambo and Salsa of Latin America. These social dances provide the source for movement that is passionate and physically challenging. We approach the complexity of jazz dance from a somatically sophisticated base, integrating elements from current and classical movement techniques with a deep understanding of the body. The goal of this training is to move with clarity and ease, to be musical, expressive and to embrace risk. The warm-up is organic and “body-friendly”, yet physically rigorous. The movement explores a wide range of jazz styles with a focus on elements such as isolation, swing, pulse and rhythmic variations.
Hip Hop (Archibald)
This class incorporates the technical fundamentals of both modern dance and hip hop into a gritty street level execution of contemporary dance. The class pushes the dancer athletically, to move with and against gravity as well as to lyrically fly across space, encompassing both the hard edge of street dance and the fluidity of classical technique.
Contemporary Caribbean (Isaac)
Spinning through movement that comes directly out of Reggae, Soca, and traditional dances of the Caribbean, this class focuses on fluidity, strength, versatility and finding rhythm in all corners of the body. Particular emphasis is placed on exploring the balance between highly physical athleticism and subtle joint articulation, taking each movement apart and reintegrating these social dance styles into an ever evolving modern dance body.
Contact Improvisation (Smith)
Contact Improvisation is an improvised duet movement form set in motion by choreographer Steve Paxton in 1972. The dance is based on the communication between two moving bodies that are in physical contact and their combined relationship to the physical laws that govern their motion—gravity, momentum, inertia and friction. To open to these sensations, the body learns to release excess muscular tension and abandon a certain quality of willfulness to experience the natural flow of movement. Practice includes rolling, falling, being upside down, following a physical point of contact, and supporting and giving weight to a partner. Alertness is developed to work in an energetic state of physical disorientation and to trust one’s basic survival instincts. Contact improvisations are spontaneous physical dialogues that range from stillness to highly energetic exchanges. This class is designed as an introduction and is open to all levels.
Pilates (Crawford)
This class is suited to people with different levels of Pilates experience. The focus is on alignment, building core strength and mobilizing the spine and limbs to prepare for a full day of dancing. We build up to the dynamic and challenging Pilates vocabulary with a full warm up that includes breathing, abdominal strengthening and individual postural placement.
Yoga (Crawford)
his class incorporates asana, pranayama, relaxation and meditation. The emphasis is on the restorative rather than the physically demanding. This is a calming and rejuvenating experience, giving the students an opportunity to calm their minds and connect to their bodies at the end of the day.
Modern Repertory (Battle & Landa)
Choreographer Robert Battle and composer Carl Landa will work collaboratively with students to create a new piece. Battle's choreographic process springs directly from the musical score, and the focus of this class will be on the different ways to use the music as a source for creativity. The work will be performed in the Festival Finale. All participants must be enrolled in Battle's Level V technique class.
Modern Repertory (Miller & Hauser)
How do we generate performance states in tandem with new choreography? In this class Bebe will choreograph and direct a new work, assisted by company member Angie Hauser, based on the Company's signature investigations of technically challenging movement, range of performance state and context. We will use both new movement vocabulary and improvisational scores to create the work. Designed for advanced dancers. The work will be performed in the Festival Finale. All participants must be enrolled in a Modern V class.
Modern Repertory (Dendy)
Mark Dendy will create a new work on the class, focusing on the use of his vocabulary as well as movement invention in collaboration with the dancers. His work makes use of hyper-physicality emphasizing endurance, big and subtle moves, spatial aggression and topography. This work may occur in a non-traditional space. This will be a physically and technically challenging class. The work will be performed as part of the Festival Finale.
Hip Hop Repertory (Archibald)
Archibald will create a work fusing elements of hip hop and modern techniques, choreographically encompassing the hard edge of hip hop with the fluidity of classical technique. Participants will also explore acting techniques through compositional exercises thus developing these studies into visual ideas for choreography. The acting exercises draw on the Meisner technique which bring truthfulness to the stage. The class will develop your performance quality while taking your work to a different level. The work will be performed in the Festival Finale. All participants must be enrolled in Archibald's hip hop technique or a modern IV or V.
Contemporary Caribbean Repertory (Isaac & Bhandari)
Using movement and text, the class explores Isaac's new work in the name of in order to dissect, catalogue, comment and recreate the search for the sublime. Using the Caribbean carnival as a point of departure, we will look at how and where we find "the divine" or "lose ourselves". The movement explores a full dynamic and physical range -- quick and sharp, sinuous and suspended, always shifting, moving smoothly in and out of the floor and carving our way through space and ideas. Be prepared to write, speak, fall, fly, crawl or glide. Musician, Rajesh Bhandari, will collaborate to create an original score. The work will be performed in the Festival Finale. All participants must be enrolled in Isaac's technique or a modern IV or V.
Advanced Improvisation (Aiken)
This class is for those who wish to explore the art of dance improvisation both as a performing art and as a vehicle to develop new avenues for sensing, feeling, imagining and choreographing dance. We will take an interdisciplinary approach to composition in order to re-examine our perception of place and time, the body, human relationships, and aesthetic design. Ultimately our goal will be to access our most powerful dancing bodies while drawing upon our personal experience, imagination and our capacity to relate to others. Documented prior improvisation study is required.
States in Space (Smith)
A class for experienced contact improvisers designed to deepen, refresh, and refine our dancing in contact improvisation while expanding our compositional awareness and integrating CI into a broader field of improvised dance. Our practice focuses on physical training in CI, detailed listening practice, discussion and various improvisation structures, including Nancy's “Underscore” (a long score for jamming/composition/contact). Alone, in contact, in groups, in silence and with live music, we study physical and energetic changes of state, natural composition, presence and relationship. Nancy's longtime collaborator musician/composer/improviser, Mike Vargas, will contribute his music and his point of view. Documented prior study in intermediate to advanced level CI required-e.g., fluency with falling, weight taking and giving, being upside down, following a point of contact, etc.
Making Dances I (Dendy)
Mark Dendy will share the basic techniques he relies on for movement invention and constructing dances. The first part of the course explores initiation, collage, gesture, primitive and quadrupedal techniques, spatial and time studies, and use of text. The second part develops skills for structuring dances such as manipulation, repetition, transposition, retrograde, timing, contagion, reaction, topography, unison and non-unison. The meaning and implication of these tools is discussed and explored. It is important to note that this course does not delve into or emphasize autobiography, emotion, narrative or deal with making dances “about something”. It is a basic tools class. Time permitting limited partnering will be explored.
Making Dances II (Miller)
Our focus is to investigate different creative strategies for dance making. While thinking about dance making as a framework for transmitting ideas, a visual picture and a sense of one's world view - as well as artful, physical dancing - we work individually and with the group in exploring context, movement detail, collaboration, dramaturgy and other practices. Documented prior composition study required.
Creative Process: Choreographing Democracy (Marks)
In this course, we look at the body, and the ways bodies in motion (together) are the material from which democracy is built. This class serves as a creative laboratory for examining the ways we locate dancing and dance making within the sphere of political meaning. We explore ideas about power, justice, privacy and responsibility through the creation of choreographic and improvisational structures. Bring your sense of humor, expect to have lots of fun, and plan on stirring up some trouble!
“Shake, Shim Sham, Shuffle and Slide”:
Jazz Dance History and Pedagogy (Young)
This course combines an in-depth look at the history of jazz dance with a focus on jazz dance pedagogy. Students will examine the distinct but intertwined elements that have created this dance form, including its roots in African American vernacular (social) dances; the co-evolution of vernacular music and movement (such as ragtime, jazz, swing and blues); the contributions of specific choreographers including Jack Cole, Bob Fosse and Katherine Dunham; and the impact of popular entertainments such as vaudeville, musical theater, film, television and video on jazz dance. Young presents her own approach to jazz dance pedagogy, which involves the integration of somatically based technical training with a broad knowledge of jazz dance stylization and a passionate exploration of music. Class work focuses on guiding students to develop their own material for teaching, with the goal of shaping a jazz technique class that embodies an authentic, sophisticated and intelligent approach to this quintessentially American dance form.
Teacher's Toolkit (Marks)
Movement is at the core of human expression. Our role as dance educators is to guide students in a process of individual and shared discovery, in the acquisition of skills, and in the encounter of new ideas. As in an oral tradition, we strive to pass down, body to body, not only (and importantly) an older generation’s discoveries, but also tools for engaging new possibilities and a new world. Together, we will identify and share teaching objectives as well as strategies for achieving those objectives. We will work in the macro and micro realms, between big picture and pragmatic details. The class, designed for experienced and aspiring college and secondary school dance educators as well as veteran studio teachers, incorporates movement exploration, the sharing of sample classes and class fragments, curriculum design and journal keeping.
The Business of Dance (Konikow)
In just three weeks you will be better prepared to handle the career management tasks expected of dance professionals, and have a more holistic understanding of the field and your own community. This very lively and realistic seminar examines the practical aspects of job options, growing audiences for dance, dealing with press, financial recordkeeping, time management and raising funds creatively, among many other topics. Guests from the Festival faculty join us daily with informative presentations based on personal experience. You are expected to contribute to classroom discussions and will participate in the creation of a plan designed to assist with your own future dance project. If you have one, please bring your printed resume with you! Photocopying fee of $10 due first day of class.
Dance in Context: Seeing/Thinking/Talking/Writing (Cash)
Dance is an activity we perform, watch, accompany and try to interpret, describe, capture, remember and forget. We experience dance in our own bodies and witness it on stage, in social situations, on film and increasingly through digitally manipulated images. Each of these experiences harnesses the raw material of the human body in motion to create different meanings. Jumping off from Festival classes, performances and events, and supplemented by videos and other technologically mediated experiences, we think about and discuss what we see, writing in class to sharpen our abilities to express our observations and reactions.
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